Driving to work today my speedometer started making such a LOUD Noise I thought the drivers side front wheel was about to fall off! (then I realized it was the speedometer!)
I go to drive the car again, and it will not start! No click, no nothing! It will start by jumping the terminals on the starter. So I am guessing the Starter Relay? It is a New (Standard Brand) Relay. I just rebuilt the 904 transmission and had to do some fine tuning to get the Neutral Safety Switch to work properly. Could this be related? I know it is a 49 year old car. Any input appreciated.-Thanks Dan

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1964 Dart GT

Sounds like it might be because the speedo cable didn't seat correctly after you removed the cable from the tranny speedo gear housing.

The way to test the issue with the neutral safety switch or the relay, is the pull the safety switch wire off the relay and make a jumper wire to ground that prong (this is similar to how the early manual tranny relays were wired).

Once the jumper is in place, make sure you have it in neutral or park and start the car...if it starts the tranny switch is off a bit if not then the relay is not good.

-D.Idiot

Thanks DI ! I read that in a post I found during a search, but it didn't make sense until you wrote it. (Ground the Neutral Safety Switch tab on the starter relay)-Thanks

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1964 Dart GT

Neutral Safety Switch must be off a bit, Jumper let it start! The speedometer must have been because it was cold in Texas yesterday.(in the 40's, in May?) Made no noise at all today. I plan to pull and lube the cable anyway.-Thanks Again DI!

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1964 Dart GT

Hi,

I don't know if you have gotten your car to start properly or not. I'd like to give you a couple other solutions. The speedo cable just may need some lubing. You can pull the speedo cable out and lube with some lithium jelly. I had a starting problem with my 1966 Plymouth Valiant and did have to replace the starter relay switch plus the wire that ran from the relay switch to the positive terminal of the battery. You might double check the battery terminals themselves. With age, they deterioate or can get some cracks in them If either terminal looks fairly weathered, then it's a good idea to replace. You'd be surprised how many times it's just one of the terminals. I hope some of these tips may help. I've owned slant sixes since 1970 so you just kind of pick up things along the way. Best of luck to you, Jerry7777.

The folks who sell the replacement speedo cables I got say the top few inches of the inner cable should be wiped clean of lube. They say that the grease can migrate into the speedo and gum up the works.

BC

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'64 Dart GT convertible, 64 Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust (the Az Dart) & a sixty THREE Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust. (future project)
Early Dart Disorder (EDD) is real, and I've got it!